Comments on: Lessons from Election Night, 2009 http://axisofright.com/2009/11/04/lessons-from-election-night-2009/ Conservative Politics, Religion, Culture, and Anything Else Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:56:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Ryanhttp://axisofright.com/2009/11/04/lessons-from-election-night-2009/comment-page-1/#comment-52010 Ryan Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:18:13 +0000 http://axisofright.com/?p=7584#comment-52010 I was completely shocked by Christie's victory and was about to relegate NJ to banana republic, People's State, no-hope-need-apply status. The election was definitely a short-term anti-Corzine vote -- NJ is not a red state or even purple this morning. However, Christie has an opportunity to at least put more House seats in play next year with tangible results based on conservative principles.The positive spin on NY-23 is that the real Republican primary took place in the last three weeks of the campaign with Hoffman ultiamtely winning, the loser supporting the Democrat, and that loser's name displayed twice on the ballot (she apparently got 5% of the vote though she wasn't even in the race... says a lot about the voters in NY-23). 46% is actually pretty significant given that Hoffman was a snore, he had a huge nationally-focused primary with his RINO opponent still on the ballot. Plus, the Democrat Owen is a very telegenic guy who sat back and watched the GOP tear themselves apart. He should be concerned that the election was so close.To Dee: the all-politics-is-local argument in NJ explains the Dems for Christie crew, but having been to two decent-sized Tea Parties in NJ I can tell you that anger over the Obama/Bush bailout agenda is what was motivating conservatives and many independents fed up with both parties. They may not have voted "for" Christie, but they defintely voted against Corzine and his Goldman Sachs/ObamaNation connections. Part of the reason turnout amongst conservatives and independents against Corzine was so high was in part because of Obama's statist agenda being tied to Corzine.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('52010','Ryan'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('52010','Ryan','I was completely shocked by Christie\'s victory and was about to relegate NJ to banana republic, People\'s State, no-hope-need-apply status. The election was definitely a short-term anti-Corzine vote -- NJ is not a red state or even purple this morning. However, Christie has an opportunity to at least put more House seats in play next year with tangible results based on conservative principles.\r\n\r\nThe positive spin on NY-23 is that the real Republican primary took place in the last three weeks of the campaign with Hoffman ultiamtely winning, the loser supporting the Democrat, and that loser\'s name displayed twice on the ballot (she apparently got 5% of the vote though she wasn\'t even in the race... says a lot about the voters in NY-23). 46% is actually pretty significant given that Hoffman was a snore, he had a huge nationally-focused primary with his RINO opponent still on the ballot. Plus, the Democrat Owen is a very telegenic guy who sat back and watched the GOP tear themselves apart. He should be concerned that the election was so close.\r\n\r\nTo Dee: the all-politics-is-local argument in NJ explains the Dems for Christie crew, but having been to two decent-sized Tea Parties in NJ I can tell you that anger over the Obama\/Bush bailout agenda is what was motivating conservatives and many independents fed up with both parties. They may not have voted \"for\" Christie, but they defintely voted against Corzine and his Goldman Sachs\/ObamaNation connections. Part of the reason turnout amongst conservatives and independents against Corzine was so high was in part because of Obama\'s statist agenda being tied to Corzine.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> I was completely shocked by Christie’s victory and was about to relegate NJ to banana republic, People’s State, no-hope-need-apply status. The election was definitely a short-term anti-Corzine vote — NJ is not a red state or even purple this morning. However, Christie has an opportunity to at least put more House seats in play next year with tangible results based on conservative principles.

The positive spin on NY-23 is that the real Republican primary took place in the last three weeks of the campaign with Hoffman ultiamtely winning, the loser supporting the Democrat, and that loser’s name displayed twice on the ballot (she apparently got 5% of the vote though she wasn’t even in the race… says a lot about the voters in NY-23). 46% is actually pretty significant given that Hoffman was a snore, he had a huge nationally-focused primary with his RINO opponent still on the ballot. Plus, the Democrat Owen is a very telegenic guy who sat back and watched the GOP tear themselves apart. He should be concerned that the election was so close.

To Dee: the all-politics-is-local argument in NJ explains the Dems for Christie crew, but having been to two decent-sized Tea Parties in NJ I can tell you that anger over the Obama/Bush bailout agenda is what was motivating conservatives and many independents fed up with both parties. They may not have voted “for” Christie, but they defintely voted against Corzine and his Goldman Sachs/ObamaNation connections. Part of the reason turnout amongst conservatives and independents against Corzine was so high was in part because of Obama’s statist agenda being tied to Corzine.

Reply – Quote
]]> By: Deehttp://axisofright.com/2009/11/04/lessons-from-election-night-2009/comment-page-1/#comment-51995 Dee Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:52:20 +0000 http://axisofright.com/?p=7584#comment-51995 The only clear message I was able to discern from the Tuesday results, was that indeed, all politics is local. While Obama was stumping hard for the NJ governor, all of the big conservative guns from Beck to Palin were pushing hard for Hoffman...and in both cases, outside influence aside, the voters decided who would best represent their interests. From the perspective of a local resident, the VA race was more a case of the Democrats fielding a very weak candidate who ran a very weak campaign...while the VAGOP had finally gone with someone who was of Northern VA but had great appeal down state. Additionally, Mr McDonnell acquitted himself very well by ignoring the negative campaign Mr Deed's ran and sticking with winning local issues like transportation...which sealed the deal for him in the key northern suburbs that had proven troublesome for Republicans for over a decade. The exit polling I've seen leaves me with no other conclusion than that local issues drove the Virginia results. As for NY, I am not sure losing that seat to Pelosi, and trashing a woman who while some in the party may disagree with, but has been a loyal local Republican and who had proven herself to the voters from back in her days as a mayor... can be seen as a victory of any kind. The idea that local politicians, who are elected and are highly thought of by the voters...are going to have to pass muster with some national party leaders and spokesmen seems to run contrary to the principles we claim to hold so dear. It would also be valuable strategy for the future to actually have a viable candidate to run the race. Dee<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('51995','Dee'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('51995','Dee','The only clear message I was able to discern from the Tuesday results, was that indeed, all politics is local. While Obama was stumping hard for the NJ governor, all of the big conservative guns from Beck to Palin were pushing hard for Hoffman...and in both cases, outside influence aside, the voters decided who would best represent their interests. From the perspective of a local resident, the VA race was more a case of the Democrats fielding a very weak candidate who ran a very weak campaign...while the VAGOP had finally gone with someone who was of Northern VA but had great appeal down state. Additionally, Mr McDonnell acquitted himself very well by ignoring the negative campaign Mr Deed\'s ran and sticking with winning local issues like transportation...which sealed the deal for him in the key northern suburbs that had proven troublesome for Republicans for over a decade. The exit polling I\'ve seen leaves me with no other conclusion than that local issues drove the Virginia results. As for NY, I am not sure losing that seat to Pelosi, and trashing a woman who while some in the party may disagree with, but has been a loyal local Republican and who had proven herself to the voters from back in her days as a mayor... can be seen as a victory of any kind. The idea that local politicians, who are elected and are highly thought of by the voters...are going to have to pass muster with some national party leaders and spokesmen seems to run contrary to the principles we claim to hold so dear. It would also be valuable strategy for the future to actually have a viable candidate to run the race. Dee'); return false;">Quote</a></div> The only clear message I was able to discern from the Tuesday results, was that indeed, all politics is local. While Obama was stumping hard for the NJ governor, all of the big conservative guns from Beck to Palin were pushing hard for Hoffman…and in both cases, outside influence aside, the voters decided who would best represent their interests. From the perspective of a local resident, the VA race was more a case of the Democrats fielding a very weak candidate who ran a very weak campaign…while the VAGOP had finally gone with someone who was of Northern VA but had great appeal down state. Additionally, Mr McDonnell acquitted himself very well by ignoring the negative campaign Mr Deed’s ran and sticking with winning local issues like transportation…which sealed the deal for him in the key northern suburbs that had proven troublesome for Republicans for over a decade. The exit polling I’ve seen leaves me with no other conclusion than that local issues drove the Virginia results. As for NY, I am not sure losing that seat to Pelosi, and trashing a woman who while some in the party may disagree with, but has been a loyal local Republican and who had proven herself to the voters from back in her days as a mayor… can be seen as a victory of any kind. The idea that local politicians, who are elected and are highly thought of by the voters…are going to have to pass muster with some national party leaders and spokesmen seems to run contrary to the principles we claim to hold so dear. It would also be valuable strategy for the future to actually have a viable candidate to run the race. Dee
Reply – Quote
]]> By: Chrishttp://axisofright.com/2009/11/04/lessons-from-election-night-2009/comment-page-1/#comment-51756 Chris Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:19:00 +0000 http://axisofright.com/?p=7584#comment-51756 New Jersey's results definitely shocked me last night. Originally, I thought Chris was going to pull it out with the slimmest of margins and have to beat back an attempt at Democrat voting shenannigans (there were some, but a lot less than I expected). I am very pleased to see he won by 5 percetage points! This state has had a Democrat run in recent years, but being on the campaign trail and working with the campaign got me noticing that New Jerseyans wanted true change:1-At a couple of rallies that I attended, you had a very large contingency of "Democrats for Christie" present 2-This election was being followed nationally, on Talk Radio and on Fox News...something that hasn't been done in years, probably since Whitman 3-People in NJ that I have spoken to doing phone banks, etc are tired...they are tired of the high property taxes, tired of the corruption, tired of the failed leadership. 4-Conservative voters were not ignored. We have a RINO problem in this state and it has led to a fractured Republican Party. He nominated Assemblyman Jay Webber to be the chair of the NJGOP Committee, who is one of our more conservative assemblymen and Chris's ideology is more conservative than all of his recent GOP predecessors. 5-Chris's message was on target, he didn't back down and his campaign people ran probably the strongest statewide campaign not seen since Tom Kean! NJ Republican campaigns in recent years have had a problem of fizzling out or doing something really stupid in the tail end, but I think it was the last week when Chris was at his strongest.Last night, we won counties that trend blue and have trended purple in recent years. Definitely a great night for the GOP in the Garden State. Republicans are back in power in this state and Chris has the potential to help build a NJGOP that could be inflential and powerful for years to come!!!<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('51756','Chris'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('51756','Chris','New Jersey\'s results definitely shocked me last night. Originally, I thought Chris was going to pull it out with the slimmest of margins and have to beat back an attempt at Democrat voting shenannigans (there were some, but a lot less than I expected). I am very pleased to see he won by 5 percetage points! This state has had a Democrat run in recent years, but being on the campaign trail and working with the campaign got me noticing that New Jerseyans wanted true change:\r\n\r\n1-At a couple of rallies that I attended, you had a very large contingency of \"Democrats for Christie\" present\r\n2-This election was being followed nationally, on Talk Radio and on Fox News...something that hasn\'t been done in years, probably since Whitman\r\n3-People in NJ that I have spoken to doing phone banks, etc are tired...they are tired of the high property taxes, tired of the corruption, tired of the failed leadership.\r\n4-Conservative voters were not ignored. We have a RINO problem in this state and it has led to a fractured Republican Party. He nominated Assemblyman Jay Webber to be the chair of the NJGOP Committee, who is one of our more conservative assemblymen and Chris\'s ideology is more conservative than all of his recent GOP predecessors.\r\n5-Chris\'s message was on target, he didn\'t back down and his campaign people ran probably the strongest statewide campaign not seen since Tom Kean! NJ Republican campaigns in recent years have had a problem of fizzling out or doing something really stupid in the tail end, but I think it was the last week when Chris was at his strongest.\r\n\r\nLast night, we won counties that trend blue and have trended purple in recent years. Definitely a great night for the GOP in the Garden State. Republicans are back in power in this state and Chris has the potential to help build a NJGOP that could be inflential and powerful for years to come!!!'); return false;">Quote</a></div> New Jersey’s results definitely shocked me last night. Originally, I thought Chris was going to pull it out with the slimmest of margins and have to beat back an attempt at Democrat voting shenannigans (there were some, but a lot less than I expected). I am very pleased to see he won by 5 percetage points! This state has had a Democrat run in recent years, but being on the campaign trail and working with the campaign got me noticing that New Jerseyans wanted true change:

1-At a couple of rallies that I attended, you had a very large contingency of “Democrats for Christie” present
2-This election was being followed nationally, on Talk Radio and on Fox News…something that hasn’t been done in years, probably since Whitman
3-People in NJ that I have spoken to doing phone banks, etc are tired…they are tired of the high property taxes, tired of the corruption, tired of the failed leadership.
4-Conservative voters were not ignored. We have a RINO problem in this state and it has led to a fractured Republican Party. He nominated Assemblyman Jay Webber to be the chair of the NJGOP Committee, who is one of our more conservative assemblymen and Chris’s ideology is more conservative than all of his recent GOP predecessors.
5-Chris’s message was on target, he didn’t back down and his campaign people ran probably the strongest statewide campaign not seen since Tom Kean! NJ Republican campaigns in recent years have had a problem of fizzling out or doing something really stupid in the tail end, but I think it was the last week when Chris was at his strongest.

Last night, we won counties that trend blue and have trended purple in recent years. Definitely a great night for the GOP in the Garden State. Republicans are back in power in this state and Chris has the potential to help build a NJGOP that could be inflential and powerful for years to come!!!

Reply – Quote
]]>